


an act of exploration

by colazitron



Series: 2019 December Holiday Fic Countdown [1]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Getting Together, M/M, Mistletoe, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21636979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: David has a crush on Hans' flatmate, which is fine because he hardly ever sees him so it's nothing to worry about. Then he's suddenly there at their queer youth club's Christmas party with a sign taped to his back that reads "kiss me".
Relationships: Matteo Florenzi/David (Druck)
Series: 2019 December Holiday Fic Countdown [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559638
Comments: 32
Kudos: 249





	an act of exploration

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smallbump](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallbump/gifts).



> **A/N:** Well! Thus begins my 2019 december holiday fic countdown. I'm excited, ngl. I hope you'll all like it!
> 
> For lavenderbrowns who wanted David and Matteo meeting through Hans, but ~holiday~ and smallbump who claims shouting "misteltoe" at me three times counts as three prompts. Challenge accepted, babe!

Matteo's been around a few times, but he's never actually come to a meeting, so David's a little surprised to see him lugging around a box of decorations after Hans, for all intents and purposes looking like he's not only hanging around, but helping out. He's got a gigantic jumper on as almost every other time David has seen him, but no jacket – another sign that he's probably not just stopping by like all the other times he dropped something off for Hans. It swamps his upper body, hiding his figure except where he has the sleeves pushed up over his bare (slim, pale) forearms, and where his legs stick out at the bottom. He's in jeans today; a straight, slim, dove grey pair that David is somehow sure are part of what Matteo considers the 'nicer' clothes in his closet. The ones he'd wear to lunch with his mother, or the Christmas party of the queer youth club his friend is a part of. Or a date, maybe.

Not that David's thought a lot about what kind of things might be in Matteo's closet or what he'd wear on a date. He doesn't even know if he meets his mother for lunch, he just knows he lives with Hans and so, presumably, doesn't live with his parents. But that might also very well be due to something tragic that prevents Matteo from ever seeing his mother for one reason or another, it's not like David _knows_ Matteo. All he knows about Matteo is the few things he's gleaned from Hans mentioning his 'adorable but annoying' flatmate who doesn't do the dishes or the groceries nearly enough, but tends to apologise with delicious meals and treats, and the one time Hans forced him to introduce himself to the group when he came by to drop off Hans' keys. Matteo had sighed and shuffled on his feet a little and then quietly said, “I'm Matteo, my pronouns are he/him and I'm gay. Now can you please take your keys so I can leave? I'll be late for work.”

Not that David has every word of the one and only time he's ever heard Matteo speak memorised or anything, because that would be extremely creepy. And also factually incorrect as he has in fact heard Matteo speak another time as well; and to him, no less.

They'd almost literally bumped into each other outside the youth centre, Matteo trying to keep his backpack from sliding off one of his shoulders while trying to dial a number on his phone, a large coat held tightly in the other hand. David had stepped closer to offer his help automatically, only remembering after their eyes had caught that they'd never been introduced and Matteo had no reason to remember any of the faces in the group, so he probably had no idea who David was. And then Matteo had said, “Hey, you're David, right? You're volunteering in the queer group with Hans?” and all David had been able to do was nod.

Matteo remembered him? Knew his name?

Matteo had told him about Hans' desperate need for this specific coat and asked him to take it in for him so he wouldn't be late for work – a common theme in Matteo's life? – and David had probably nodded or maybe even agreed. Whatever it was, it had made Matteo smile at him, small but so pretty and full of warmth, and unload the coat into his arms.

“Thank you so much, you're saving my life,” he'd said then and by the time David had thought to answer with a “No problem!” he'd had to half-shout it because Matteo was already several meters further down the road. Matteo had turned around and given half a smile and half a wave before hurrying off and David had felt like a huge idiot.

And that… is pretty much it. That just about sums up all David knows about Matteo except he also knows the way his sleepy blue eyes always seem like they're scanning a room for exit routes, the way he pulls his hair forward over his forehead like he's trying to hide in it, the way he laughs bright and free when he forgets to be cautious for a moment and Hans manages to say something he must find funny.

Still not a lot, but enough that David knows he has a stupid fucking crush on a stupid pretty boy he's met barely a handful of times. So that's great.

At least up until now David has never had to worry about whether or not he was ever going to do anything about his crush, because it's not like Matteo ever sticks around. His only course of action would have been to involve Hans, to give him his phone number to give to Matteo or have him relay that David would like to go on a date with him and _that_ is absolutely not going to happen. But now here Matteo is, helping Hans decorate the room with a long-suffering slump to his shoulders but a small smile like the annoyance is mostly a performance he's putting on.

Now David has to make a decision.

At least he's dressed for a party instead of the sweatpants and worn-out hoodie he might have otherwise worn.

Not that Matteo seems like the type to particularly care one way or another, but it's always good to make a good impression, first or otherwise. And it makes David feel a little better in his skin, less like he should avoid Matteo, lest he sees David looking sloppy and whatever small chance there might be for them vanishes in the mustard stain at the hem of his sleeve.

So maybe he smooths his shirt down once or twice once he's taken off his coat and scarf, makes sure it sits neatly tucked into his own pair of jeans – black, and a little skinnier than Matteo's own – before he turns around to see what needs doing.

“Oh, David! There you are!” Hans calls. “Come over here and help Matteo finish up with the decorations, I've got to go check on the kitchen team.”

David freezes, heart pounding in his chest. “I can do that,” he suggests.

“Nonsense,” Hans says, waving him off. “You're helpless in a kitchen and we all know it, but our butterfly here could definitely use your artistic eye, since he has absolutely no aesthetic vision himself.”

Matteo rolls his eyes at Hans' declaration and the consoling pat he gives his shoulder, but he doesn't protest. There's no way David can get out of this without looking like a jerk, so he doesn't try. And it's not that he doesn't want to spend time with Matteo, it's just that the prospect of it makes him at least as nervous as it gets him excited, if not more.

Still, he makes his way over and lets Hans pile the wall ornaments he was already holding into his arms.

“Perfect, thank you so much. I'll be back in a while, sweetlings!”

Hans bustles off before David has even fully adjusted to the sudden pile of stuff in his arms, leaving Matteo and him standing in somewhat stunned silence, both of them holding a bunch of stuff neither of them really know what to do with. David instinctively turns from watching Hans leave to Matteo, their eyes catching and matching small smiles blooming on either of their faces.

“Well,” David says. “That's that, I guess.”

Matteo huffs a small laugh. “Yeah, sorry. I really don't know what I'm doing, but Hans said you guys could use an extra set of hands, so...”

“That's okay, your hands are plenty,” David says, and immediately wishes the ground would just open up underneath him and swallow him up. _Your_ _hands_ _are plenty?_ What does that even mean?

But Matteo seems to get it, or at least not see anything strange in it, because his smile turns a little more relaxed.

“Well, okay then. I gotta warn you though that the arms they're attached to won't be able to hold this box forever.”

David peaks inside the box full of paper and hollow plastic ornaments and lifts one slightly sardonic eyebrow as he looks up at Matteo again.

“This box of extremely heavy paper and plastic ornaments, you mean?” he asks. “The box is probably heavier than anything that's in it!”

“I don't really care which part of it is going to make my arms tired, I'm just letting you know it's going to happen,” Matteo says.

“Then we better work fast,” David says with a grin and turns to the cork pin board, running all along the wall to get a better look at what Hans started. “Uh, do you know what kind of theme Hans was going for?”

“Glitter,” Matteo says. “Lots of it.”

David barks a laugh. “Yeah, that sounds like Hans.”

And it's what the wall looks like. There's shiny silver tinsel hung up in between glittery baubles of various sizes, arranged to make the most colourful wall display possible.

David glances down at the pile of stuff in his arms, and decides to dump it all back into the box Matteo is holding. Matteo makes a tiny noise of complaint, but David is pretty sure he's faking it.

“Do you think Hans would mind if I rearranged the baubles to make a rainbow?” he asks. “And the tinsel so it's less… chaotic?”

“So you want to start over completely?” Matteo asks, but when David shoots him a careful sideways look, he's smiling, seeming very amused by the suggestion.

“Yes?”

“I think Hans trusts your artistic eye,” Matteo says. “And if he complains, we can always tell him it was my idea.”

David laughs and then claps his hands together once to jolt himself into action.

“Great, then let's make this Yuletide gay.”

Matteo laughs brightly, his whole face softening and lighting up with it, eyes turning into glittery half-moons. Ugh. He's so _cute_.

David determinately moves towards the wall and starts taking the decorations back down and piling them back into the box Matteo is holding. They work like that for a while, quietly moving down the wall in tandem, until it's all clear again and David starts digging through the box to assemble all the ornaments of one colour. He's going to start with purple and work his way down to red, he's decided.

“So, what do you when you're not here?” Matteo asks, just as David climbs up onto a chair to pin the first bauble up onto the board. Luckily, they're all already strung up on some thread, so at least they don't have to do that anymore.

“I'm in my second year at film school,” David says, grinning a little with pride.

“Oh, wow. That sounds really cool,” Matteo says. “What course are you doing?”

“Directing,” David says. “I want to make movies.”

Matteo hums in acknowledgement. “Nice. A friend of mine is doing a design course; she wants to get into costume design.”

“Oh, cool. I could never do that,” David says. “But now I know who to ask if I ever need help.”

Matteo smiles at him when David turns around to wink at him. “Yeah, absolutely. She'd be super into it, I'm sure.”

The look they share goes on for just a moment too long, so David ducks his head and busies himself with digging a few more baubles out of the box.

“What do you do?” he asks, fishing for a distraction.

“I work at this bistro café thing. I do a little bit of kitchen and a little bit of service there,” Matteo says.

“You cook?”

“My mum used to be a chef, before she had me. She taught me when I was little,” Matteo says. “So I never formally learned, but I know enough to help out in a small kitchen. Not everyone there is a professional chef.”

“That sounds cool,” David says, turning again to pin up a few more ornaments. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it's fine,” Matteo says. When David turns back to look at him – 'fine' isn't exactly a lot of enthusiasm – Matteo shrugs. “I don't really know what else I want to do, and I don't hate this. It's good, most of the time. So.”

He shrugs again and David nods.

“That's cool.”

They lapse into silence for a bit after that, but Matteo doesn't seem to mind it and David doesn't either. It's not an awkward silence, it's just the kind that happens when you're distracted with some other task. They move down along the wall together, Matteo occasionally pointing out an ornament at the very bottom of the box that David missed for that colour's portion of the wall. The tinsel he pins up above it in a row, a shiny fringe dangling down over the baubles and various paper decorations dotted amongst them.

By the time Hans comes back, they're almost done, so when he insists Matteo come help in the kitchen to prevent some sort of disaster or another, David grabs the almost empty box from him with a grin.

“We wouldn't want your arms to get too tired,” he says. “Go put your hands to work somewhere else.”

Matteo grins and wiggles his fingers at him, and David tries very hard not to think of anywhere else for Matteo's fingers to be put to work. That's really not what he--- _fuck._

Hans drags Matteo off and yells a “looks gorgeous, by the way, thank you, David!” over his shoulder before they vanish around the corner. It doesn't take much longer for David to finish up, so he offers some of the others arranging the rest of the room his help and before he knows it, people are starting to come in and he hasn't seen Hans or Matteo in over an hour.

The next time he does, it's to see him talking to Jakob, one of their regulars, who then pushes up onto his tiptoes to kiss Matteo on the cheek.

David freezes on the spot, the Christmas songs and chatter in the room moving so far into the background of his mind he barely hears them over the beating of his own heart in his ears.

He didn't know-- god, how silly to assume Matteo would be single--

But Matteo looks just as shocked as David feels, taking a stumbling step backwards and saying something David can't hear all the way across the room.

He can see the way Jakob's shoulders curl a little, especially when Matteo reaches out to give one of them a gentle but awkward pat, before Jakob seems to fake a laugh and turn around and walk off.

Matteo stares after him for a second and then turns back to who David assumes are his friends, because they're grinning at him widely, one of them unsuccessfully trying to hold back laughter that shakes his shoulders. Matteo gives him a shove in the shoulder that sends him stumbling, but it only makes the guy laugh a little louder. It's when Matteo turns around to stalk off towards the buffet he probably helped set up earlier, that David realises what's going on.

Matteo's wearing a Santa hat like all the other volunteers at the group, probably at Hans' insistence, only there's a tiny sprig of mistletoe dangling from the end of his. Judging by the fact that there's also a piece of paper stuck to the back of his sweater that says “kiss me”, David guesses he probably has no idea it's there. Neither the mistletoe nor the sign.

David watches as a girl looks at him and then giggles and kisses him on the cheek when Matteo steps up beside her to reach for something at the buffet, leaving Matteo just as baffled, especially when the girl doesn't say anything else, just turns back to her friends.

Matteo looks around the room a little, like he could figure out what's going on from that, and David is just about to walk over and explain what's happening when Hans swoops in and links his arm through Matteo's, dragging him off somewhere.

“Hey,” Victoria says then, laughing as she waves her hand in front of David's face. “Are you listening to me?”

David blinks a few times and turns back to her, the music and chatter flooding back.

“Sorry, yes. Got lost there for a bit.”

“I could tell,” Victoria says with a grin.

“Anyway. Madrid?” David prompts, and Victoria continues her story about this girl who she's not-quite-but-not-not in a long distance relationship with.

David does his best to concentrate on that conversation, and for the most part he manages, but Matteo stays in the periphery of his awareness. He's still getting kissed on the cheek every now and then, and he still doesn't seem to have worked out why. He doesn't seem particularly bothered by it, but that might be because none of the people linger the way Jakob had. It's clearly just a bit of fun.

David can't help wondering if he could get away with it. Just kiss Matteo's cheek in passing and slot into the growing list of people who've done so tonight, hide the truth of his desire in what Matteo will inevitably find out was a joke played on him by some friends.

The problem with that, of course, is that David doesn't really want to hide. He doesn't want to be one of many. He doesn't want to kiss Matteo's _cheek_. Or at least not just his cheek.

But then he'd probably be doomed to the same fate as Jakob; sent off with an awkward pat to the shoulder and a nervous smile as Matteo turned him down. David's obviously not the only one with a crush, but he hasn't seen Matteo pay any kind of special attention to anyone here in return. So he turns back towards the conversation he's supposed to be a part of and tries to put it out of his mind until Hans sends him to fetch another platter of cookies from the kitchen.

David actually welcomes the opportunity to step outside of the main room for a moment, taking in the silence in the hallway and opening a window in the kitchen to stand in front of and just take a few breaths of cool, crisp air. His cheeks suddenly feel flushed with heat, the hair at the nape of his neck a little damp with sweat he hasn't noticed before.

“Oh. Uh, hi,” he suddenly hears and turns around to find Matteo standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Santa hat still perched on his hair, though it's slipped a little, sitting at an angle now. It doesn't do anything to make the whole picture any less cute.

At least David's already blushing.

“Hans sent me to get more cookies,” Matteo says, gesturing to where David's stood by the baking trays of cookies.

David laughs. “Yeah, me too. Sorry, I didn't realise I was taking so long.”

“No worries. I was totally going to use the opportunity to take a break too,” Matteo says with a grin.

David gestures at the cookies and the open window beside him grandly and says, “By all means. Join me.”

Matteo smiles at him, his cheeks a little ruddy with the heat from the party as well, and does just that. He leans against the counter next to David and heaves a deep sigh, reaching up to run his hand through his hair and stopping short when he bumps into the Santa hat instead.

“It's been a weird night,” he says.

David presses his lips together and makes a short humming sound. He should probably tell Matteo, right?

“Because people keep kissing you?” he asks.

Matteo turns to him with wide eyes and nods. “Yes! Oh my god. It's not just me then?”

David can't help the quiet laugh.

“No, it's definitely just you,” he says and reaches out to pluck the hat off Matteo's hair, showing him the sprig of mistletoe tied to the white bobble at the end of it. Then he peels the piece of paper that somehow hasn't fallen off Matteo's back from his jumper, the noise of the tape coming loose loud in the otherwise silent kitchen.

Matteo looks from one to the other a few times and then puts his hands in his face and groans.

“I'm going to kill Hans.”

David laughs again. “He's certainly got a strange sense of humour.”

“He probably thinks he's helping,” Matteo mumbles, and then does drag his hand through his now free hair.

“Helping?” David asks.

Matteo nods, biting his lip, and then turns his head to look at David. “Yeah. There's this guy, you know? That I like.”

“Oh.”

David looks down at the sheet of paper in his hand, the words 'kiss me' spelled out in stark, black letters, and wonders if that means he should have just taken the chance and stolen a kiss that won't ever mean anything to Matteo.

“Yeah. He's got this dark, kinda messy hair. The prettiest smile I've ever seen,” Matteo goes on. David doesn't really think he wants to hear this, but he's not sure how to tell Matteo to stop either. “I don't really know him that well, but I know he wants to make movies.”

David's eyes snap back up to Matteo's, and there's a beat between them in which his brain feels like it's completely silent. When it comes back, it's with a jumble of thoughts of w _hat-- he--- me?_

“I don't think he wants to play the game though,” Matteo says, quietly, his eyes still fixed on David's, but David can see the way they're a little wide now. The nerves hidden just underneath his small smile.

David can't look away from him, from the slight blush that still sits in his cheeks and might not be due to the heat of the party after all. From the way his throat bobs when he swallows, from how pink his lips are. There's a tension between them in the air that almost feels palpable, makes it harder to take a full breath despite the open window they're stood next to.

“What do you think?” Matteo asks, barely more than a whisper.

David isn't really thinking anything, so instead of doing anything logical, like kissing Matteo, or saying something, literally anything, to let him know that that's what he wants, he pulls his own Santa hat off and puts Matteo's on, the mistletoe dangling beside his head. He slaps the piece of paper to his own chest, but the fuzz from Matteo's jumper left on the tape means the sign just flutters down onto the floor between them.

Matteo gets the hint anyway.

He huffs a quiet laugh and leans in closer, until they're forehead to forehead, nose to nose, breathing the same air. Matteo's fingers dance along David's jaw, careful, until he cups his face in his hand and tilts it forward just the smallest bit, catching David's mouth in a sweet, gentle kiss.

David's pretty sure he makes some kind of noise, a sigh that betrays how his knees go weak, but he doesn't even really care because Matteo's still kissing him. Still gently and slowly, giving David time to catch up to it, to turn his body to face Matteo's more fully, to lift his own hands and put them on the sides of Matteo's neck. His fingers curl around the back of Matteo's head to thread through his hair there and hold him close as he opens his mouth, makes the kiss go deeper and hungrier, meets Matteo's tongue with his own without any hesitation. Matteo's second arm wraps around his back just below his shoulders, holding him close enough that David can feel the warmth of Matteo's body through his knitted sweater.

It's a really good fucking kiss.

When Matteo breaks it, David leans in to follow his mouth, but Matteo ducks away, catches his eyes instead.

“I don't want this to be just a game though,” he says.

David swallows and nods.

“No, yeah. Me neither. I--- dates. Lots of them,” he says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” David echoes and leans in again. “But this too.”

Matteo grins.

“Deal,” he says and meets David in the middle for another kiss.

It's just as sweet as the first one, Matteo's lips soft and warm against David's even when it gets hungrier and wetter, and David already knows that he isn't going to get tired of this any time soon. He moves one hand down from Matteo's neck to his shoulder, bunching the fabric of his jumper up in his hand as he holds on and pushes closer. Matteo breathes a harsh breath against his face, both of his hands carding through David's hair almost urgently, knocking the hat off his head.

Neither of them really notice, or care, when David ends up stepping onto the mistletoe, crowded back against the counter by Matteo. It's only when Matteo puts his hand on the counter by David's hip, bumping into a tray of cookies and sending it clattering and crashing to the floor that they spring apart again.

“Fuck,” Matteo curses, taking an instinctive step back and stepping on at least a handful of cookies.

David grabs him by the forearms, holding him still, and for a few heartbeats they stare at each other in shocked silence, before bursting into laughter.

Matteo's lips are even pinker and his cheeks even redder now, and when he laughs his eyes are bright enough to feel like spotlights when he looks at David.

“Come on, five second rule,” he says, squatting down to start picking up cookies, brushing them off before putting them back on the tray.

“It's been more than five seconds,” David protests, but joins him anyway.

“Well, soft germs are good for the immune system or something, right? We won't take the gross ones.”

“You mean the ones you stepped on?” David teases, and then spots the crushed Santa hat and mistletoe on the floor, leaves broken and the white berries more of a white mush.

“That was not me,” Matteo says immediately when David picks it up to dangle in front of him.

“Wasn't it? I don't know...”

Matteo grabs it and tries to brush the very noticeable boot print off, groaning a little when it won't come off entirely.

“Hans is going to kill me.”

“That sounds like a you problem,” David says with a grin.

“If you want to keep doing what made this happen, it's a you problem too,” Matteo points out.

David pretends to ponder it for a moment and then nods.

“You're right. I say we sneak the cookies into the party and then bail.”

“I like this plan,” Matteo grins. “How about you deliver the cookies and I grab our coats and we meet outside?”

“Very stealth,” David teases, but he nods and lets Matteo pull him into another kiss.

They make quick work of piling the cookies onto two empty platters, and it's only when David is slinking his way through the crowd that the realises he never even told Matteo what his coat looks like. Yet when he manages to successfully extract himself from the party again without getting roped into conversation, he sees Matteo stand outside the glass entrance doors with his own coat on and David's slung over his arm.

David watches him through the glass for a moment and thinks about the things he knew about Matteo two hours ago. His cautious eyes and his fringe. That he doesn't do the dishes or groceries often enough and seems to be running late for work all the time and how fond Hans is of him. His pronouns are he/him and he's gay.

And now: the way he laughs and listens and that he learned to cook from his mother. The way his hands feel in David's hair. How sweet his kisses are.

Who knows what David will know by tomorrow, but he can't wait to find out.

  
  


**The End**

**Author's Note:**

>  **A/N:** I'm still taking promps [over on my tumblr](http://fille-lioncelle.tumblr.com/ask) if you want to leave me any!


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